This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to an electrical connector assembly which includes a plurality of terminals that must be held rigidly for termination purposes.
Generally, a typical electrical connector includes some form of dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. The housing may include a mating end for interengaging a mating connector or other complementary connecting device, as well as a terminating end at which the terminals are terminated to various electrical transmission components ranging from circuit boards to discrete electrical wires.
One of the problems in fabricating or using electrical connectors is in holding or maintaining the terminating ends of the terminals sufficiently rigid so that they can be properly terminated to the complementary connecting devices. The terminals often are very small and fragile. An example is in a header connector which uses closely-spaced terminal pins.
For instance, the terminating ends of the terminal pins may be xe2x80x9cwire bondedxe2x80x9d to a plurality of discrete electrical wires. The wire bonding may be carried out by surface connection with the use of ultrasonic energy and the application of pressure. If the terminal ends of the very small terminal pins move to any extent, the energy dissipates and a good bond is not achieved. This problem is further magnified in filtered connectors where such components as ferrite blocks and/or flexible circuits having capacitor chips thereon are positioned over the terminal pins. All of these components must be held rigidly during the wire bonding process.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems and providing a very simple, efficient and effective system for holding terminals and related components rigidly on an electrical connector to facilitate termination of the terminals.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved electrical connector assembly of the character described.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the connector assembly includes a dielectric housing having a mating end, a terminating end and a plurality of terminal-receiving passages extending in a direction between the ends. A termination subassembly is fixed to the terminating end of the housing. The subassembly includes a circuit board and a plurality of terminal pins extending through the circuit board and into the terminal-receiving passages in the housing. A plastic pin holder is overmolded about portions of the terminal pins at the terminating end of the housing and about at least a portion of the circuit board.
According to one aspect of the invention, the overmolded plastic pin holder is fixed to the housing. The pin holder may be molded separately from the housing and subsequently mechanically attached thereto. Alternatively, the plastic pin holder may be molded integrally with the housing either at the same time that the housing is molded or thereafter. As disclosed herein, the circuit board comprises a flat flexible circuit.
According to another aspect of the invention, the termination subassembly includes a ferrite block through which at least some of the terminal pins extend. The plastic pin holder is overmolded about at least a portion of the ferrite block. The termination subassembly also may include a plurality of capacitors mounted on the circuit board and electrically connected to at least some of the terminal pins. The plastic pin holder is overmolded about the capacitors.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the terminal pins have contact ends at the mating end of the housing and termination ends exposed at a termination face of the plastic pin holder. The termination ends are formed by enlarged head portions of the pins which are flush with the termination face of the pin holder. As disclosed herein, the termination pins are square in cross-section, and the enlarged head portions comprise swaged ends of the pins. As disclosed herein, the connector is a header connector and the mating end of the housing is a shroud into which the contact ends of the terminal pins extend.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.